maandag, juli 30, 2007

Hij wordt steeds leuker! Over net inquisitie en digipausjes



Limburg bevrijdt zich:

Over deze site
Op deze site vindt u alle artikelen zoals deze zijn verschenen in Dagblad De Limburger / Limburgs Dagblad over het onderwerp 'Tussen Kerk en Geloof'. U kunt deze site doorzoeken door in het linker frame in het betreffende veld een zoekwoord in te vullen. Ook kunt u reageren op alle artikelen.
Zoek!


En die Borgermans wordt toch wel steeds leuker!

Limburgse kranten stimuleren discussie rol RK-Kerk
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op
ma 30 jul '07 om 15:48u

SITTARD (RKnieuws.net) - Dagblad De Limburger en het Limburgs Dagblad
hebben maandag op internet een discussieplatform geopend over de rol van de
Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in de Limburgse samenleving. Dat heeft het ANO
gemeld.

Lezers en niet-lezers van beide kranten kunnen permanent met elkaar in discussie gaan over de positie van de kerk. Dat hebben beide kranten maandag
laten weten.
Het platform biedt bijvoorbeeld ruimte voor reacties op de manier waarop het bisdom Roermond met de affaire van oud-deken Joep Haffmans van Gulpen is
omgegaan. De zaterdag overleden geestelijke werd van verduistering van kerkgeld en belastingontduiking beschuldigd en zat enkele dagen gevangen.

Stimulans
De affaire-Haffmans heeft volgens Johan van de Beek, lid van de
hoofdreactie van beide kranten, de discussie sterk gestimuleerd. Veel Limburgers
bleken in het reine te willen komen met hun ervaringen in de tijd dat de zeer
behoudende bisschop Jo Gijsen (1972-1993) het bisdom Roermond bestuurde. De
krant bundelde in april de reacties in een bijlage.Een eyeopener was de
discussie die de kranten in diezelfde maand organiseerden, zegt Van de Beek.

Veel gelovigen verhaalden toen over hun pijn, teleurstellingen en ook
traumatische ervaringen met priesters en de kerk.

Sommigen noemden pastoors "net inquisiteurs’’.

De algemene stemming was: "Wij zijn de kerk. De kerk is niet het probleem, de leiding is het probleem’’.
Bisschop Frans Wiertz van Roermond had geweigerd aan het debat deel te
nemen. Volgens zijn woordvoerder zag hij het belang ervan niet in.

Reacties:

Zoals ik al eerder schreef: katholieken zeg het abonnement op het Limburgs Dagblad of de Limburger op. Dat is de enige taal die ze verstaan!

Gepost door R.K.Priester vandaag om 17:20u

In de volgende aflevering van onze soap van glibberende digi-pausjes, verkleedkisten, en andere al dan niet schismatieke goede herders hopen wij uit de dwalen te kunnen doen wie tijdens de schermgevechtscholing aan de borreltafel der ware gelovigen naar voren is gekomen als gebedsleider in de kathedraal.

Zal hij het nihil obstat verkrijgen van de Limburgse pastoor?

Of wordt met bischoppelijke steun en het populariteits-metertje in de Mazen van het net hij toch een amicaal-confronterende zij? Zullen de aartsbisschoppelijk ingewijdde digitale kaarsen hier tegen opgewassen zijn?
Naar verluid is inmiddels ook Mokum-tv al druk bezig met een nieuw Staats-testbeeld.


Dezer zijds vooral mijn medeleven met slachtoffers -en in het bijzonder nu een aantal vrouwen die "zelf zouden hebben ingestemd" - van dit soort RK smeerkezerij
En dat zullen er ook in Nederland heel wat zijn.
Moge de Limburger nu eens niet regionaal blijven!

Uganda: Clergymen Wired for Scandal

The Monitor (Kampala)
COLUMN28 July 2007
Posted to the web 28 July 2007 ; By
Justice Malebbe
allafrica.com

These days, a day hardly passes before another scandal involving clergymen hits the pages of a newspaper. The frequency with which it happens suggests that either the media is now ever more vigilant in scouring for news about an otherwise existing problem, or that the clergymen we have today are degenerating so badly, so fast, that very soon they will not have the moral pedestal to stand on and preach to their congregations because of ethical deficiencies.

These scandals are so diverse in nature to include alleged practicing of witchcraft, breaking of the celibacy vows, adultery, polygamy, polyandry, bigamy, wife and husband snatching, extortion, murder, obtaining money, goods and services by false pretence, sodomy, murder e.t.c.

Matters are not helped by the extremely flamboyant and opulent lifestyles they lead, in deep contrast to the majority of the poor, tithe-abiding congregations they lead. Apart from the flashy cars, clothes and mansions, many a clergyman is alleged to have extensive loads of cash stashed away in accounts in banks abroad, courtesy of their perennial begging sprees from unsuspecting and only too willing foreign donors under the guise of using funds to look after Aids orphans, spreading the good word of the Lord through radio and television, building schools, hospitals, churches e.t.c.

Our countrymen are certainly God-fearing and will not hesitate to contribute their hard earned cash to Godly causes

This seems to be the Achilles heel that some of these clergymen have discovered and are now on rampage to fleece their unsuspecting flock, under the guise of using the Lord's name.

Honestly, it is only a shameless manipulator who will stand in front of a church and suggest that for people to get God's blessings for either prosperity or good health, they should put specific sums of cash in the church basket. As a matter of fact, with tongue in cheek, the manipulators will even advise on the lowest accepted amounts one should put in the basket! Where does this leave the very poor that Jesus so much loved in his ministry?

As if this is not bad enough, some of these fellows are lecherous and have broken many homes. This they have done by invoking the Lord's name to suggest that unhappy couples were mismatched from the word go. To circumvent this situation, the wives need to free themselves from the yoke of a loveless marriage.

They should then come to the church, where the clergymen will "pray" for them to obtain truly ordained husbands from God. Fast forward and you will find that these clergymen are maintaining harems of unsuspecting victims, each one thinking that she alone has an illicit affair with the clergyman, which secret she should jealously guard! Now comes the story of the times, in which a clergyman has been found with an electric gadget to use in shocking his flock, in a simulation of exorcising demons.

To my amazement and shock, I read early last week, a story in the newspapers about an incident in which it was alleged that a clergyman had locked the body of his just deceased estranged wife in his house to prevent her relatives from giving her a decent send off and burial.
Not until they first surrendered the land title to the house that the deceased owned, which he now forcefully wanted to inherit! It took some tough persuasion from the police before he could relent and release the body. It will not take long before another story pops up, because it seems Ugandan clergymen are truly wired for scandal!

http:/allafrica.com

Uganda: Police Open File On Fake Pastors

New Vision (Kampala) NEWS 28 July 2007
Posted to the web 29 July 2007
By Herbert Ssempogo Kampala

THE Police have opened a general inquiry file on fake pastors countrywide.

Announcing the move, Police spokesman Asan Kasingye on Friday called on people to use the opportunity to report dubious pastors.
"Every person with a complaint against a particular pastor can come to us and give us information," he appealed, while addressing a news conference at the Police headquarters in Kampala.

The Police open a general inquiry file when there are several complaints about an issue from members of the public. "We open the file in absence of a particular complainant so that we can confirm the allegations and also find a way forward," Kasingye explained.

The Acting Commissioner (crime), Elly Womanya, who is stationed at the CID headquarters at Kibuli in Kampala, will receive all complaints.

The media has lately been awash with reports about the activities of pastors, many of which border on crime.

The Sunday Vision over three weeks this month serialised the activities of pastors who coerce their flock into "sowing" their valuables in exchange for blessings from God.

Several people have alleged that pastors take their vehicles and land titles with promises that they will cure them of HIV/AIDS, among other miracles.
"If someone reports to us that they have been threatened or intimidated, we shall take action," Kasingye warned.

He cited embattled Pastor Obiri Yeboah Kojo, who last week asked Pastor Samuel Kakande of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations to apologise to him or "face God's power within 60 days".
The Police are investigating Kojo over allegations of importing a device designed to give electric shocks, but Kojo accuses Kakande of framing him.

Kasingye also said Pastor Grace Kitaka, who is accused of sodomising Julius Lukyamuzi, had been interrogated.
Meanwhile, it emerged that Kojo is not wanted by the police in Ghana. The Police had early in the week warned that Kojo would be extradited over allegedly defrauding a woman of the equivalent of sh17m. Kasigye said the man Ghanian police seek is Alex Yeboah.

zaterdag, juli 28, 2007

Heft het bisdom Roermond zich op?


Oud-deken Joep Haffmans plotseling overleden
Geplaatst door Theo Borgermans op za 28 jul '07 om 17:13u (Bron: Bisdom Roermond)

ROERMOND (RKnieuws.net) - De bisschop van Roermond bereikte zojuist het bericht dat heden, in zijn woning te Sittard, ten gevolge van een hartinfarct, oud-deken Joep Haffmans plotseling is overleden. De bisschop is door dit bericht diep geraakt en geschokt. Hij hecht eraan om zijn gevoelens van medeleven kenbaar te maken aan de familie Haffmans en aan diegenen die zich met de oud-deken verbonden voelden. Hij zal de overledene insluiten in zijn gebed.

"Wij weten allen, dat in het afgelopen jaar een justitieel onderzoek tegen de oud-deken liep, dat in de komende maanden tot een afronding zou komen. Het ontvangen van het bericht van zijn plotseling overlijden maakt ons er pijnlijk van bewust, hoe kwetsbaar het menselijke leven is.

Wij treden terug in ons oordeel, nu oud-deken Haffmans is aangekomen bij de hemelse Vader, de God van barmhartigheid. Alleen aan Hem komt het oordeel toe," aldus de bisschop. "Wij begeleiden de overledene met onze gebeden. Moge hij rusten in vrede."

Wat verschrikkelijk voor de man en de zijnen.

Misschien kan er dan nu eindelijk gesproken worden over datgene waar het nu eigenlijk over ging:
wie er binnen die kerk , dat bisdom, nu eigenlijk hoe verantwoordelijk was voor misbruik van vertrouwen, dat het leven en de gezondheid van anderen beinvloedde!

Inplaats van gebruik te maken van de dood van de man met argumenten als "wij treden terug in ons oordeel" en God als rechter.

Een rk kerkelijke hierarchie bestaat omdat niet slechts personen individueel verantwoordelijk zijn binnen, maar de kerk als institutie !

Om dan nu het bisdom Roermond meteen maar helemaal op te heffen, of communaal over te stappen naar de PKN ten gevolge van deze man en diens dood, lijkt mij wat overdreven!

Ze schijnen daar in Roermond mbt. hun eigen leer in ieder geval wel heel erg hardleers te zijn
en er een knap cynisch minachtende uitleg van

de een zijn dood is de ander zijn
brood
op na te houden

Disgraced B.C. bishop dead of heart attack
TOM HAWTHORN
Globe and Mail Update
July 27, 2007 at 3:13 PM EDT


Hubert O'Connor, the disgraced Roman Catholic bishop, has died of a heart attack in Toronto. He was 79.
His death was announced by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He resigned as bishop of the British Columbia diocese of Prince George after being charged with sex crimes in 1991.

He was convicted in 1996 of committing rape and indecent assault on two young aboriginal women during the 1960s when he was a priest. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by Mr. Justice Wally Oppal, who is now British Columbia's attorney general. After serving six months, the disgraced clergyman was released on $1,000 bail.
The B.C. Court of Appeal later acquitted him of sexually assaulting a student at a Williams Lake residential school, where he was principal.
The appeal court also set aside his conviction for rape of a school secretary, ordering a new trial.

Instead, authorities agreed to drop the rape charge after the former bishop apologized to his accuser in 1998 at a traditional native healing circle held at Alkali Lake, a small native village near Williams Lake in the B.C. Interior.

Earlier, he had told court during a bail hearing that "if I had not broken my vow of chastity (klik)I would not be here today. I have paid a very heavy price." (klik)

Court heard lurid details about a predatory priest who used his position to attain sex, which he would later insist was consensual (klik)
A former student testified he had ordered her to clean his bathroom, then pulled her onto his bed and said: "Let's have some fun."

The former secretary testified he had once presented her with a Christmas gift of a statue of the Virgin Mary before feeling her breasts and trying to kiss her.

He maintained his innocence throughout the long court battle, arguing his accusers had
consented to sex. He admitted to fathering a child who was placed for adoption.

The case attracted widespread attention, as it became a symbol for debate about the role of the justice system in handling cases of aboriginals abused at church-run residential schools.
The original charges were suspended when the defence successfully argued the Crown failed to provide the records of the therapists and psychologists who treated the accusers. A defendant's right to such access was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada, a decision bitterly denounced by women's groups and advocates for sexual assault victims.

Parliament later passed Bill C-46, which offered some privacy protection (klik)regarding a complainant's counselling records in such cases.
....

Wat er ook gebeurd is, ik weet daar niets van, maar zó ga je niet met
mensen om. Ik denk dat het heel jammer is dat men zo’n priester in
de media bij
voorbaat vermoord heeft.
Men heeft mét hem vele anderen, óók de huidige
bisschop, op deze wijze scheef voorgesteld en beschuldigd. Ik vind dat eigenlijk
een van de grootste schandalen van de laatste jaren."

Tja....

..... Gijsen wijdde Haffmans in 1974 tot priester. Dat besluit is omstreden, sinds emeritus hoogleraar Ad Blijlevens, van 1988 tot 1992 rector van de Hogeschool voor Theologie en Pastoraat (HTP) in Heerlen, vorig jaar in deze krant onthulde dat Gijsen in weerwil van waarschuwingen over een dubieuze levensstijl Haffmans tóch tot priester wijdde.

Vanuit de HTP, waaraan Haffmans begin jaren zeventig studeerde, kwam het advies dat Haffmans " vanwege zijn levensstijl en geaardheid" niet geschikt was priester te worden. Blijlevens zei dat de HTP concrete signalen kreeg die te maken hadden met Haffmans’ "homoseksuele geaardheid en vooral hoe hij in de richting van medestudenten daarmee omging". De HTP-leiding informeerde het bisdom, maar vond daar geen luisterend oor.

"Haffmans moest en zou tot priester worden gewijd. Gijsen hanteerde blijkbaar andere criteria dan wij."

Klinkt dat (klik) even heel erg bekend!

Ik lieg alleen wanneer dat nodig is! vrije vertaling van Mahony, met dank aan Richard Sipe!

NPR : Priests' Files to Shed Light on Abuse Scandal in L.A.

July 27, 2007

Now that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has reached a record settlement with alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, the next legal battle is heating up.

Under the settlement, the archdiocese is preparing to release personnel files of the accused priests. Plaintiffs' lawyers say these files could implicate Cardinal Roger Mahony in a widespread cover-up.

For Lee Bashforth, last week's settlement was a small price to pay for a cardinal he accuses of covering up years of sexual abuse. Immediately following the settlement, Bashforth held up an old photo of his first communion. Father Michael Wempe has his arm around Bashforth, who wears a proud smile.

"There's a picture of him here, with me as a 7-year-old boy, which is when my abuse began and lasted a decade," Bashforth says.
Bashforth says Cardinal Roger Mahony's public apology to the hundreds of victims of sexual abuse wasn't enough.
"Roger Mahony offered a very disingenuous and hollow apology," he says. "And he is sorry. I believe he's sorry. But he's sorry he was caught covering up these crimes."

Mahony has withstood strong criticism for the way he's handled this scandal. He chose to fight the release of priests' files all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also challenged the California law that gave people a one-year window to file sex abuse claims no matter when they occurred.

Both of these tactics failed. But they did succeed in delaying a settlement for four years. Now, as part of that settlement, Mahony agreed to release all of the church's personnel files. Some of those files may be held up if individual priests raise objections to a judge. Still, it's hoped many will be released in the coming months.

Plaintiffs' attorney John Manly is one of a handful of lawyers who has seen all of these files. He says they show the cardinal routinely covered up sexual abuse in the archdiocese and shuffled abusing priests from parish to parish. Manly believes the release of these files will force Mahony to resign.

"There will be a volcanic reaction by the public and the media," Manly predicts. "And onne of two things will happen: Either he'll be indicted, or he will be effectively promoted to the Vatican, by Rome, because his position here is untenable."

That's precisely what happened to former Boston Archdiocese Cardinal Bernard Law in 2002, when he had to disclose personnel files. Law was forced to resign and now presides over one of the five basilicas in Rome where the pope oftentimes celebrates mass.

However, L.A. Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg says this case is completely different. He says the personnel files of clergy here will show that it was the accused priests, not Cardinal Mahony, who concealed the abuse.
"I think the record will show that these men ... didn't tell the truth to the cardinal, that they went to great lengths to hide what kinds of awful things they were doing to people," Tamberg says.

Plaintiffs' lawyers have called on L.A. District Attorney Steve Cooley to investigate Mahony's role in the church-abuse scandal. Many point to Mahony's admission five years ago in a letter to his priests that he transferred one priest, Father Michael Baker, to a number of different parishes after Baker admitted he molested children. District Attorney Cooley says he hasn't ruled out prosecuting Mahony.

"We have to have a plausible legal theory of criminal liability, and we are not at that stage yet," he says. "But I will tell you this. We have not ruled out at some point in time, using the grand jury to probe the outer reaches of criminal culpability or liability in this matter, we are still working on this."

In the meantime, the fallout of the LA Archdiocese scandal isn't garnering as much attention as other large settlements like the one in Boston five years ago.
Phil Lawler, editor of the online magazine Catholic World News, says that's because the public is tired of it all.

"At the time when things were exploding in Boston, everyone was shocked and outraged," he says. "Now, more than five years later, people have seen so many headlines, I think a lot of people just want it to go away."

Lawler adds that Mahony is much more popular among parishioners than Cardinal Law ever was.
In a diocese that is 70 percent Latino, Mahony has created a name for himself by standing up for immigrant rights.

This, combined with his tough stance during settlement negotiations, has spurred many church observers to guess that Mahony will survive this scandal relatively unscathed ... a prediction that, at least in some circles, has already earned Mahony the nickname "The Teflon Cardinal."

woensdag, juli 25, 2007

ex-priester gepakt. Dank U wel, slachtoffers, zei de kardinaal. Mahony's antwoord en nog wat verklaringen.



Wat een timing!!!
Na de informatie over Manning, Mahony's voorganger in LA, de afgelopen dagen alweer, nu ook over de al al zo lang bestaande centra voor seksueel gevaarlijke priesters,
een week na de LA deal met 508 slachtoffers: ligt de volgende consequentie van het het kerkelijk misbruik, alweer voor Mahony LA onomstotelijk op tafel met de arrestatie van een ex-priester.

De vraag is natuurlijk inderdaad: wat doe je met ze?
Ze zijn tenslotte jarenlang hun gang kunnen gaan!

Als't U blieft, kardinaal.
Wie misbruikers kweekt krijgt misbruikers!

Wie zolang met zijn fikken aan kinderen kon en mocht zitten, zit met vingers aan kinderen! Of je ze er nu wel of niet die kerk uitschopt.
Dank u wel, kardinaal!

En dat geheugen van Mahony? Op zijn minst fascinerend te noemen.
Misschien is de correcte vertaling van mental reservation dan ook wel niet: ik lieg alleen als het nodig is, maar die gouden borden uit de hemelse eeuwigheid hier op aarde een eeuwigheid voor je kop hebben.


Ex-L.A. priest charged with sexually abusing boy
Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:11PM EDT
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Just over a week after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a record $660 million deal to settle clergy abuse cases, a former priest was arrested on Tuesday on charges of molesting a young boy.

George Miller, who served in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacoima, is the first current or former Catholic priest to be charged with sex abuse in the city since the nation's largest Roman Catholic diocese finalized the settlement with 508 plaintiffs on July 16.

That settlement covered only civil cases pending against the church and does not affect criminal cases.
Miller, who is 69 and left active ministry in 1996, was taken into custody at his home in California on a felony complaint charging him with three counts of committing lewd acts on a child and three counts of sodomy on a minor.

He is accused of sexually abusing a young boy from 1988 to 1991, starting when the alleged victim was 5 years old. Miller was being held on $600,000 bail and was due in court as early as Wednesday for an arraignment on the charges. The victim was not named.

"As promised, investigations are ongoing into alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests," Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said. "As evidence is developed to sustain criminal filings, we will do so."

Miller had been assigned to the Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima when he met the 5-year-old boy, befriended his mother and became a frequent guest in the family's home. He is accused of molesting the boy while taking him on overnight trips.

In 2002, Miller was charged with 24 counts of sex crimes against minors, including the boy's older brother.

That case was dismissed the following year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an extension of California's statute of limitations on sex crimes against children was unconstitutional.
The current case is within the statue of limitations.

The settlement reached last week after 4-1/2 years of negotiations came on the eve of the first trial involving sex abuse cases was due to begin. Victims' attorneys would have called Cardinal Roger Mahony to testify about the church hierarchy's alleged protection of abusive priests.

The church, in which priests take a vow of celibacy, has faced abuse allegations worldwide over the past decade. Victims have charged that church leaders often knew of the abuse but did not do enough to stop it.

The Los Angeles settlement dwarfs other landmark payouts. The Archdiocese of Boston, where the U.S. scandal erupted in 2002, reached a 2003 deal for 550 people worth $85 million.


Published: Friday, July 20, 2007
Pastoral Letter to Catholic Faithful in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
July 18, 2007
As you have heard, this past week our Archdiocese settled 508 civil cases involving clergy and ay persons accused of sexual abuse. The emotional pain of the victims of this abuse remains intense, and I invite each of you to join with me in praying for them on their difficult journey toward healing.

I again apologize personally, and on behalf of those who led the church in past decades, to all those who were abused, regardless of how long ago the abuse took place.
As much as we might wish that the past could be reversed and the harm undone, it cannot be. But we can work to ensure that our parish ministries are as safe as we can humanly make them for all of our parishioners, especially our children and young people.

Throughout our Archdiocese, in our parishes and schools, our priests and lay people have worked hard over the past several years to create safe environments for our children. At this important moment in our Local Church's history, as we remember our past failings, it is also appropriate to reflect on what has been accomplished so far:

---There is no priest or lay person currently in ministry in the Archdiocese who has been found to have abused a young person.
---Complaints of abuse are promptly reported to civil authorities.
---A Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board receives complaints of inappropriate conduct and makes recommendations about the disposition of individual cases.
---More than 40,000 priests, teachers, lay employees, coaches and volunteers have been trained in abuse prevention techniques under the Archdiocese's Safeguard the Children program.
---Before being allowed to work alone with children, church employees and volunteers are being fingerprinted and will clear a criminal background check.
---More than 350,000 of our children and youth already have been trained in age-appropriate programs that teach them to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate behavior and how to report inappropriate behavior to a parent or guardian.

For more information on these and other child protection efforts of our Local Church, please visit the various websites of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Again, I invite you to join me in fervent prayer for the healing of all victims of sexual abuse, and for reconciliation across the Archdiocese.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Cardinal Roger Mahony
Archbishop of Los Angeles


Posted on Tuesday July 24, 2007
Statement Of The Archdiocese Of Los Angeles Regarding The Arrest Of George Miller

In 2005, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles released a summary of information related to priests who had been accused of sexual abuse in civil lawsuits.

The information regarding George Miller indicates that despite written allegations of abuse in 1977, a firm denial of misconduct by Father Miller resulted in the decision of Cardinal Timothy Manning to retain Father Miller in ministry.

There were no further reports of problems to the Archdiocese regarding Father Miller for 12 years. In September of 1989, a priest reported that he felt uncomfortable with Father Miller’s friendliness toward boys. But no abuse was reported. Father Miller again denied any wrongdoing.

On May 16, 1996, a complaint of sexual abuse against Father Miller was made to the Archdiocese’s Vicar for Clergy. The Vicar for Clergy interviewed Father Miller, and on May 20, 1996, Cardinal Roger Mahony placed Father Miller on sick leave and sent him for psychiatric evaluation.

Father Miller was never returned to ministry. He continued in therapy, and was placed on inactive leave in 1997. At the request of Cardinal Mahony, Miller was laicized in May 2005. In 1977, Cardinal Manning allowed Miller to remain in ministry based on Miller’s denial of an accusation of abuse. Such a thing would not happen today.

According to Archdiocesan sexual abuse policies and procedures enacted by Cardinal Roger Mahony, an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor is immediately reported to the police.

The priest is removed from ministry and placed on administrative leave. Pending the results of a police investigation, the Archdiocese’s Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board, comprised mostly of professional lay experts, reviews the case against the priest and makes a recommendation directly to Cardinal Mahony.

The Archdiocese will continue to cooperate with the authorities as they investigate claims of sexual abuse against individual priests.

July 24, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Former Priest Arrested,Charged with Sexual Molestation

LOS ANGELES – A former priest with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was arrested today on a felony complaint charging him with multiple counts of sexual molestation of a child under the age of 14, the District Attorney’s office announced.

George Miller, 69 (dob 3-12-38), was arrested at his residence in Oxnard by investigators with the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation. He is charged in case No. PA059590 with three counts of lewd act on a child and three counts of sodomy of a person under 14 – all felonies. He is being held on $600,000 bail.

“As promised, investigations are ongoing into alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests,” Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said today. “As evidence is developed to sustain criminal filings, we will do so.”


Miller allegedly met the victim when he was 5 years old while Miller was assigned to the Guardian Angel Church in Pacoima. Miller allegedly befriended the victim’s mother and became a frequent guest in her home. He allegedly first formed a close relationship with the victim’s older brother. Miller began taking the victim on overnight trips and allegedly began sexually molesting him. He’s charged with sexually molesting the victim between March 1988 to March 1991.


In 2002, Miller was originally charged with 24 counts of sex crimes against minors involving John Doe’s older brother and two other male minors, who were brothers. That case was dismissed in 2003 pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Stogner decision that ruled California’s statute of limitations extension was unconstitutional. Deputy District Attorney Sam Dordulian with the Target Crimes Division will prosecute the case.

Miller is scheduled to be arraigned after 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 25, in San Fernando Superior Court. If convicted, he is facing up to 18 years in state prison.



LOS ANGELES – District Attorney Steve Cooley issued the following statement today on the archdiocese settlement:

“Today’s massive civil settlement highlights the institutional moral failure
of the archdiocese to supervise predatory priests who operated for years
under its jurisdiction.

Our office worked for five years to obtain archdiocese records regarding the alleged criminal acts committed by these priests. The archdiocese resisted our efforts. We successfully obtained these records through the California Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in our favor last year.

While we were attempting to obtain records from the archdiocese, the U.S. Supreme Court in another case – Stogner – significantly limited statutes of
limitation allowing prosecution of molestation cases. This poses a continuing
legal problem to us.

“We are aware there could be records that may become available to us as
a result of today’s settlement. If these documents reveal evidence of criminal
activity on behalf of individual priests or anyone else, we will pursue them.

“The book is not closed on our investigation.”
sg

Als'tu blieft, kardinaal.

dank u wel, kardinaal.

dank U wel, slachtoffers, wees verzekerd van mijn medeleven en mijn excuses, zei de kardinaal.

Misschien is de correct uitleg van mental reservation (zie Tomas Doyle, Sipe en Wall)
dan ook wel niet: Ik lieg alleen wanneer het nodig is, zoals Sipe eerder zei over Mahony (en Manning), maar die gouden borden uit die hemelse eeuwigheid gewoon hier op aarde een eeuwigheid voor je kop hebben!

Kassa: Advocaten kosten: Diocese spent $10 million on fees

Die erfenis van de clerus, da's dus een al heel oud bekende reden voor het verplichte celibaat.
Misschien toch iets voor te zeggen, stel dat ze zonen krijgen die .....

foei!! Op naar een vol aflaaitje , want dat mag je helemaal niet denken!

Of zou dat nu toch veroorzaakt worden door die uitspraak van de vroeger bisschop van Spokane, die in een rechtszaak van een vrouw tegen de kerk. Zij wilde verhoging van het belachelijk lage bedrag dat zij van het bisdom ontving voor de opvoeding en verzorging van haar zoon - de vader was een priester.

Net voor William Levada naar Rome vertrok, als opvolger van kardinaal Ratzinger als hoofd van de congregatie van de geloofsleer, verdedigde hij noch even de weigering hiervan:
de betreffende dame had maar een condoom moeten gebruiken.

Maar ja, dat had hij natuurlijk niet gezegd, maar zijn advocaten, zo wist hij de pers uit te leggen.
En die advocaat, die knikte wel.
Foei, dat mag je dus helemaal niet denken.
En al helemaal niet dat diezelfde Kardinaal ook heel lang Mahony's hulp bisschop was.

Maar ja, daar moet je dan weer aan denken wanneer je leest over Skylstad die zijn bisschoppelijke paleis uit moet. Wat hij prima lijkt te vinden. Want deze man, voorzitter van de US bisschoppen conferentie wordt wel eens verdacht van het kunnen vloeken en tieren, binnensmonds maar niet altijd binnenskamers. En daar heeft hij volgens mij groot gelijk in ook!
Hij is een van die bisschoppen die meent dat de sekscrisis goed is voor die Kerk.

En ook daar heeft hij groot gelijk in.

En ook heel goed voor sommige advocaten dus, die van de kerk.
Volle aflaaiers !

Jul, 24, 2007

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The bankruptcy filing by the Catholic Diocese of Spokane has cost it more than $10 million in attorney and professional fees so far.

The $10.1 million in fees for attorneys, accountants, real estate brokers and other professionals will come from the $48 million settlement deal for all claims arising from the priest sex abuse scandal that sent the diocese into bankruptcy.

The most money will be paid to the Paine Hamblen Coffin Brooke & Miller law firm of Spokane. The firm has submitted a $3.7 million bill for the work of its lawyers, led by Shaun Cross, Greg Arpin and Michael Paukert.
The bankruptcy court must approve fees before they're paid.
"I'm very proud of the work that my firm did on this entire case," Cross said.

Cross acknowledged the sometimes harsh and what he described as uninformed criticism from some attorneys, as well as many parishioners, the press, victims and others, over the diocese's decision to file for bankruptcy protection.

He said legal fees could have been kept lower if the U.S. trustee had appointed one committee to represent victims rather than two. One law firm represented a committee of victims who had filed lawsuits over pedophile priests. The other represented victims who had not filed lawsuits. They charged a combined $4.5 million.

The two firms were Riddell Williams P.S. of Seattle, which seeks $1.85
million for representing one group of victims; and Pachulski Stang, a Los
Angeles-based law group that charged $2.6 million.
It was attorney Jim Stang
who first won a ruling from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams that parish
property was owned by Bishop William Skylstad and thus should be included as
assets available to satisfy the legal demands of victims.

But U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush reversed the decision on appeal last summer in favor of the diocese and parishes, and urged the sides to mediate.
Six months later, the $48 million deal to settle all claims was reached.

In bankruptcy, the company, or in this case the diocese, must cover the legal fees of creditors as well as the cost of its own lawyers.

Hourly rates for the attorneys ranged from $200 for Arpin and Paukert
to $250 for Cross to more than $300 for some victims' attorneys.

Cross said that of the $48 million owed to settle the bankruptcy, about
$28 million has been collected from insurance settlements and the sale of diocese property, including Skylstad's house in Spokane, farm acreage, and the Chancery building.

The approximately $20 million balance will be funded by sales of more property, a $10 million note owed by Eastern Washington parishes now engaged in fundraising and $6 million in notes owed by Skylstad.


Victims of sex abuse will collect an average of about $230,000 each.

That's far less than the $1.3 million average victims stand to collect
in the recently announced $660 million settlement of sex abuse claims against
the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesmanreview.com

De informatie die voor een belastingbetalende Europeaan dan nog ontbreekt is natuurlijk nog het uurloon voor een beetje therapeut, en de gemiddelde duur van de gewenste of noodzakelijk gemaakte hulpverlening. Och, bedrijfsongevalletje voor de verzekering!

dinsdag, juli 24, 2007

RGJ.com: Retired bishop backed priests' shelter

Martha Bellisle )
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL July 22,

Reno's former Roman Catholic bishop, Phillip Straling, supported building a facility for priests accused of molesting children when he was bishop in San Bernardino, Calif., and used some of the priests held there to work in his diocese, according to testimony from a priest who led the group that ran the center.

The Rev. Joseph McNamara revealed Straling's involvement in the creation of the Servants of the Paraclete facility in Cherry Valley, Calif., during his June 21 testimony in the massive legal case against Los Angeles-area priests accused of sexually abusing children.
The Diocese of Los Angeles settled that case last week for a record $660 million.

The Southern California facility, built in Straling's San Bernardino diocese in 1980, was used as "a clerical prison for holding known child sex offenders from all over the country instead of turning them over to the police," said Patrick Wall, a consultant with a Southern California law firm handling hundreds of cases against priests.

When consulted by McNamara on setting up the center, Straling gave his approval of the plan and saw it as a way to bring in new priests to help with his short-staffed diocese, the testimony showed.
Straling declined to comment on the priest's testimony, and said he had been advised by lawyers for the Diocese of San Bernardino against talking about any pending lawsuits, said Brother Matthew Cunningham, spokesman for the Diocese of Reno.

Straling is a witness in some San Bernardino cases.
Straling instead referred questions to the Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the San Bernardino diocese. Lincoln said McNamara's statements were generally true.

"Bishop Straling supported their work and their mission of helping troubled individuals," Lincoln said of the Servants of the Paraclete.
"We did use members (priests who worked at the facility) as supply priests," Lincoln said. "We also used guests who had been placed in Cherry Valley as a sort of 'halfway house' for alcoholism.
"We have no records to indicate that we utilized guests as supply priests who had been placed with the Paracletes for issues of sexual abuse," he said.

The Paracletes reached a peak of having about 23 centers in the 1970s to 1990s that catered to priests who had problems with alcoholism or sexual activity, including the sexual abuse of children, Wall said.

Most centers were closed because of a sex-abuse scandal and only three facilities still are operating — one, located in Minnesota, in the U.S., Wall said. The centers were the subject of growing criticism as being used to protect abusive priests.

When priests were sent to a center, “they weren’t reported for their suspected criminal activities and no warnings were given to the communities,” said Dr. Gilbert Kliman, the medical director of the San Francisco-based Children’s Psychological Health Center and an expert witness in the L.A. lawsuits.

“The priests were often referred back to the same people who had referred them there, and many priests returned to ordinary duties, including contact with children,” he said.Straling, who retired unexpectedly in 2005, was not named in the Los Angeles suits, but is a key witness in about 170 lawsuits in San Bernardino and San Diego filed against priests accused of molesting children.

In some cases, Straling is accused of negligence for failing to stop the abuse. The former bishop was called in to testify on those cases in December. His deposition has remained sealed while the bankruptcy case filed by the San Bernardino diocese is considered by the courts.

Straling also came under fire in late 2005 from several Reno residents who said they were abused by priests in the Reno diocese.
One woman, who accepted a $50,000 settlement from the Reno diocese for abuse she said she suffered by the Rev. David Brusky, said Straling lied to her about Brusky’s condition and led her to believe he had suffered a stroke and was incapacitated.

But a visit by the Reno Gazette-Journal revealed that he was healthy and able to move around his Milwaukee assisted-living home. The woman and several others had said at the time that they were considering filing a new lawsuit against the diocese for this and other cases, but none has been filed. The woman said last week that a new lawsuit was unlikely at this point, given the cost and stress of such legal action.

Retreat for problem priests
After working as a priest in San Diego, Straling was appointed as the first bishop of the newly established San Bernardino diocese in 1978, and became the Reno bishop in 1995.
According to the lawyers in the San Bernardino and San Diego cases, Straling lived and worked with priests who were later accused of abusing children, but did not report the abuse to authorities. Straling has denied any knowledge of abuse.

When the San Bernardino diocese was established, more than a dozen priests who were later accused or charged with molesting children worked there, and Straling had made many of these priests officials in his diocese.

It was during the early years as the new bishop in San Bernardino that McNamara sought approval from Straling for the Servants of the Paraclete problem-priest facility in Cherry Valley.
According to letters between the leader of the Servants of the Paraclete and various dioceses at that time, their mission was to create a “retreat for priests with problems.”
They sought financial support from Catholic leaders across the country to help them “provide shelter for the sick whether their ills stem primarily from the soul or from the body,” according to the letters obtained through the Los Angeles litigation.

Some of the cases included priests who “have been addicted to abnormal practices, especially sins with the young.” One priest who was sent to a Paraclete center from a church in New Hampshire did not have a drinking problem, the bishop told the servants, but had been involved in “a series of scandal-causing escapades with young girls.”

The bishop wrote to the head of the servant facility in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, asking to send the priest to a new location: “The solution of his problem seems to be a fresh start in some diocese where he is not known.”

Some of the priests who became “guests” at servant facilities were used by the local diocese to help out with the needs of the churches, McNamara said in an affidavit given in November 1993.
The mental-health experts at the facility said segregating the priests with “psychosexual difficulties” from others “would be counterproductive to rehabilitation.” They recommended that the priests work as “supply ministry” to the local diocese, McNamara said.
Straling was interested in that possibility when the Cherry Valley facility was proposed, McNamara said.

New center
In his deposition for the Los Angeles lawsuits, McNamara said the archbishop of Los Angeles at the time, Cardinal Timothy Manning, wanted to use the services of the Servants of the Paraclete for his priests.

Manning retired in 1985, and was followed by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.
Manning actually toured the Paraclete’s New Mexico center to see how it was operated, McNamara said.

The lawyer questioning McNamara asked whether Manning knew why the priests were sent there, and he said Manning, like every bishop in the country, was “aware of priests who had — had not lived up to their expectations, or — or priests who had simply kind of given up.”

Following that tour, Manning discussed opening a facility in the Los Angeles area with the head of the servants at the time, McNamara said.
McNamara said the Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald, the leader of the Paracletes at the time, sent him to speak with Bishop Straling.

He met Straling at the diocese and discussed establishing a center within the San Bernardino diocese, McNamara said. McNamara said he wanted to see whether Straling would be open to such a facility.
“And what was his response?” the lawyer asked.
“He seemed favorable — favorable to it because — well, he had his own reasons, but he seemed favorable to it,” McNamara said.
McNamara said Straling’s diocese was short-staffed, and the bishop hoped the new Cherry Valley facility would bring new priests to the region to help with the diocese.

“Now, was he, if you know, considering members or guests or just members” to work for him, the lawyer asked. The members were the priests who worked at the facility and the guests were the problem priests sent there.
“I think he was considering both,” McNamara said.

The lawyer asked what happened after talking with Straling, and McNamara said they took it as the green light to go ahead and purchased property in Cherry Valley for the facility.
He asked whether the servants spoke with any other Catholic leaders in Southern California about the inception of the Cherry Valley facility, and he said, “No. Just with Bishop Straling.”

“And did, in fact — once the Cherry Valley facility was opened, did it serve his purpose of providing some additional priests to help in his diocese?” the lawyer asked. “Yes,” he replied, adding that both members and guests were utilized.

“What kind of work are we talking about,” the lawyer asked.
“Mostly a weekend ministry, helping out on, say, Mass on the weekends, or when they happened to be on retreat and they needed priests to fill in, we would be there,” McNamara said.

Zie ook Tom Doyles verhalen over deze centra zoals ook daarover in Ierland en dergelijke centra, tot in de veertiger jaren, steeds duidelijker wordt.

vrijdag, juli 20, 2007

Stilte, om niet meer stil te zijn dankzij Bravehearts, Australie

How a prosecutor's crime destroys victims' trust
Thursday Jul 19 17:00 AEST
By By Hetty Johnston Bravehearts executive director

Beads of sweat nestle in his brow — a lifetime of wrinkles nurtured by anxiety, fear and guilt. Today he will tell the police what his priest did to him all those years ago. Today he will trust the legal system and finally expose his truth.

He will tell a stranger, in meticulous detail, about his memories of being sexually assaulted as a child. He will endure this painful time warp to protect others.

But he knows that his truth will now be a matter for others to judge. The legal system will take control and he now has no option but to trust it. There is nowhere else to go — no other option but silence and inaction.

He hopes the Crown will prosecute as aggressively as the defence will defend. He hopes the truth will be diligently pursued and that justice will prevail.

As his body shakes, he is told his decision to break the silence will culminate in a courtroom. This is the day he has been waiting for, and feared so much. But he wants to believe enough to trust the system one more time.

He cannot represent himself and tell his story in full and in truth — there are rules. So he must put his life and his faith in a public prosecutor, provided by the Crown. He can only hope that this public prosecutor has the integrity and passion to fight for him, to protect all children from these heinous crimes.

Finally the day arrives. He prepares to attend court. He opens the newspaper and reads that the Crown-appointed public prosecutor, the man who was appointed to defend his honor, has just been charged with possessing child pornography.

Truth and justice were too much to hope for after all. Crushed and beaten, he knows he can trust no-one again. His faith in the legal system is destroyed.

His views are mirrored by thousands of survivors in the community who've watched on with horror and disbelief at the Patrick Power saga.
Thousands of survivors who will never tell their story to the authorities — thousands who had their fears of betrayal confirmed.

The lesson is clear — you can live and hear the evil, but still never speak of it.

5 belangen van de LA deal, Canada

Sin and expiation
This Week's Sexual Abuse Settlement In L.A. Is A Welcome Development
Father Raymond J. De Souza, National Post
Published: Thursday, July 19,

The mammoth scale of Monday's sexual abuse settlement in Los Angeles drew worldwide attention. At the cost of some US$660-million, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and its insurers have settled some 500-plus cases stretching back to the 1950s.

Part of that attention is because almost everyone outside of North America finds the excesses of the American legal system rather startling. Settlements in no other country reach that level, and the idea of lawyers getting up to US$250-million dollars, as they will in this case, is simply inconceivable elsewhere. The Los Angeles case is so enormous largely because the State of California repealed, temporarily, the statute of limitations in 2002 in order to encourage more lawsuits against the Catholic Church. Retroactively changing the rules is generally thought to offend against natural justice, but it proved quite popular in California.

Notwithstanding the excesses, the sexual abuse settlements are a welcome development. In the first place, the prospect of civil damages on a significant scale has served to encourage victims to come forward; if such large settlements were possible in other countries, there would be more cases there, too. The settlement process has allowed many victims to be released from the pain and shame they suffered for too long at the hands of those who should have helped them. Without the settlements, many victims would have continued to suffer, often in silence, often alone.

Second, the Church has now removed from her ranks those priests who did prey upon the most vulnerable, betraying in a most iniquitous way the grace of their ordination. New procedures, prompted both by genuine horror at the abuse and the fear of future liability, have been implemented so that it would be near-impossible now for an abuser to continue in ministry. Children are indeed safer.

Third, while the cost of the settlements is staggering, and will result in an unavoidable reduction in Catholic social services to the poorest and most needy, the payments will have an unintended side effect. The Church in the United States has become far too bureaucratic and institutional, rather than innovative and evangelical, over the past three generations. The only way to curb bureaucracy is to starve it of funding. This is not the most pleasant way to do it, but it will serve that necessary purpose.

Fourth, to the extent that other churches and institutions are interested in dealing with the ubiquitous problem of sexual abuse, the Catholic experience provides many lessons.
Given the scale of sexual abuse in society at large, it is clearly not a Catholic problem alone.

A recent report from just the three largest insurance companies for Protestant churches in the United States revealed that they typically receive some 260 reports per year of minors being abused by clergy or staff. The Catholic Church's independent audit of all American cases since 1950 reported 13,000 "credible accusations" (which is a much wider criterion than insurance company reports), or about 228 per year. The vast majority of those accusations were from before 1990, so the annual Catholic figure would be much lower today. One would expect much higher figures from Protestants than Catholics in the United States, given that the former are far more numerous. The painful experience of the Catholic Church these past years might help our Protestant brethren -- to say nothing of schools, hospitals and other institutions -- deal with the same problem.

Fifth, the Catholic experience can be considered expiatory for a society rife with sexual abuse and sexual violence. Some Catholics grumble that we have been singled out for media attention, or that other institutions do not face litigation for something that happened 30 or 40 years ago.

That may be true, but the Church is not just another institution. In Catholic doctrine, the Church is the body of Christ, and as she shares in the holiness of the saints, so too she suffers from the wickedness of the sinners. Jesus Christ suffers not only for His Church, but in His Church, too.

That suffering has been intense these past few years, but Christian suffering is meant to be purifying and redemptive, and to offer expiation for sins. The sins have been many and grievous, there can be no doubt.
So too then is the need then for expiation.

Het belang van de window, instrument voor jeugd-slachtoffers

A 'window' for victims of abuse
Historic legislation from Sacramento allowed abuse victims to take legal action against the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
By Marci A. HamiltonMARCI A. HAMILTON is a law professor at Yeshiva University and author of the forthcoming book "How to Deliver Us From Evil: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children." hamilton02@aol.com
July 19, 2007

WITHOUT question, the bravest souls involved in Los Angeles' $660-million clergy abuse settlement are the victims who came forward to sue the archdiocese. By now they have traversed more levels of Dante's inferno than anyone should have to experience.

But another heroic group has gone largely unrecognized — the Legislature.
It is only because that body passed historic childhood sexual abuse legislation in 2002 that these lawsuits and settlement happened. That law created a one-year "window" into the legal system for claims that had been shut down by overly short statutes of limitations — as little as three years for some victims.

Indeed, in 2003, any California childhood sexual abuse victim could go to the courthouse and find that the statute-of-limitations lock had been taken off the courtroom door. And in they went — about 850 Catholic clergy abuse victims and 150 others who sued churches, the Boy Scouts and other institutions for employing known molesters.

Even as the U.S. Supreme Court struck down California's window for criminal prosecutions, the window has been held open for civil lawsuits. In the Boston Archdiocese scandal, victims faced "charitable immunity" laws that limited the amount of financial damages they could recover. Expired statutes of limitations also weakened their cases, and as a result, they received much less compensation per victim.

With the statute of limitations set aside, California plaintiffs came to the justice system with much more powerful claims. The window law is the sole reason California dioceses and members of the church hierarchy, such as L.A.'s Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, were forced to face the prospect of truth-revealing trials and substantial damages.

Once other California diocese settlements came in — and showed that plaintiffs had increased legal bargaining power — victims were able to demand release of church personnel files. The church has resisted releasing such files, but lawsuits filed under the window law revealed the identities of many perpetrators and their institutional enablers.
California's window legislation has a beneficial ripple effect across the country as well.

Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in John Doe vs. Archdiocese of Milwaukee, for the first time permitted a clergy abuse case to go forward, and it is highly likely that facts from a California case involving Father Siegfried Widera made a big difference.
Widera had been transferred back and forth between Wisconsin and Southern California, and his California victims had laid out their horrific stories in court. The church hierarchy knew Widera was a convicted serial child molester and hid that fact from parishioners in both states.

California may be starting a trend toward unlocking courthouse doors for childhood sexual abuse victims. Just last week, Delaware became the first state to follow suit with a window law of its own. Its Child Victims Act creates a two-year window to file suits and abolishes the civil statutes of limitations on sexual abuse cases going forward.
The New York Assembly has passed similar legislation, hearings have been held by the District of Columbia City Council, and the introduction of window bills is likely in a number of states this fall.

The beneficiaries of such bills extend well beyond clergy abuse victims, and the statistics are sobering. Multiple studies have concluded that at least 20% of boys and 25% of girls have been sexually abused — the majority by family or family acquaintances. There is a crying need to give these victims a shot at justice. One incest victim told me that she didn't come to terms with her abuse until her 40s, and when she did, she told her father she was going to sue him. His response? Don't be silly — I have the benefit of the statute of limitations. This is a woman who deserves the California-type window, and there are millions like her across the country.

It is shameful that most states have had such short statutes of limitations on childhood sexual abuse. Even though states, including California, have been lengthening those limits, that doesn't help past victims whose claims have expired.

These victims have been foreclosed from justice while predators enjoy a system that protects their interests first and foremost. California has shown the rest of the country a more heroic and noble path to follow.

donderdag, juli 19, 2007

idee 392. avondgymnastiek, Lucky Luke en de minister

18/19-7
don't shoot the pianoplayer

Juffrouw Pietersen: 't Staat in 'n boek, 't staat waarachtig in 'n boek! Och, lieve menschen, ...... 't staat in 'n boek!

Richard Sipe: Hypocrisy is the greatest moral failure.

R.K.Priester: Forum: Prikbord. Geplaatst op 18/7 '07 15:34u. Onderwerp: Afkoop
Ik heb er reeds verschillende keren seksuele misbruik in gezinssituaties pastoraal begeleid en moet helaas zeggen dat er maar heel weinig aandacht voor is. Sommige mensen, ook in dit forum, intrumentaliseren het misbruik van geestelijken om andere doelen in de Kerk te bereiken. In feite misbruiken deze mensen de slachtoffers voor een tweede keer.

piano piano

en buig en strek en buig en strek - en denk erom, die laatste niet te diep - en daarmee zijn we dan weer terug bij het begin dus: buig en strek.

Hypocrisie is het voorwenden van geloof, gevoelens, moraal of deugden zonder daar
volledig achter te staan of de daaraan verbonden
normen en waarden zelf in praktijk te brengen, in het bijzonder bij het bekritiseren van anderen. De term wordt vaak gebezigd in tegenstelling tot oprecht (zie integriteit). Een synoniem voor hypocrisie is huichelarij.

Het woord komt uit het
Grieks ὑπόκρισις
"hypokrisis", dat in zijn meest oorspronkelijke gebruik “acteerkunst” betekende.
Soms wordt verondersteld dat het woord werd afgeleid van de samenstelling: ὑπό
"hypo-" (=onder-) + κρίνειν "krinein" (=oordelen, onderscheiden, waaruit ook
κριτής, "krités": zie hiervoor
Kritiek.

Oud-Grieks: κριτής, krités: hij die beargumenteerd beoordeelt, analyseert, interpreteert of observeert.

Waarmee vast komt te staan dat Sipe kennelijk net zo weinig van soap houd als ik.

R.K.Priester
Forum:
Prikbord. Geplaatst op 18/7 '07 22:23u. Onderwerp: Afkoop
Zoals ik reeds aan het begin van de draad schreef was ik ook voor volledige openheid, maar niet alleen de kerk houdt de zaken onder de tafel, maar ook de slachtoffers, het is immers een schikking waarin beide partijen ingestemd hebben.

Tja, nu kun je je afvragen of dit nu een typisch gevalletje van Law-school is of het probleem dat de man weer eens laat zich niet te informeren -ik kan tenslotte ook geen Latijn lezen -maar .. veel interessanter zijn Doyle, Sipe & Wall over mental reservation, zeker nu rond Mahony: ik lieg alleen wanneer het nodig is.


...en strek en strek. Weer terug bij het begin.
Maar dan met een heel belangrijk verschil!

Uit: In de kou, Godfried Bomans en Michel van der Plas over hun roomse jeugd en hoe het hun verder verging.

B.: ...dat zijn fascistoide trekken, die de katholieke kerk toen duidelijk had. P: Maar dat was de kerk zelf in veel opzichte: onverdraagzaam; de waarheid duldde immers de leugen niet naast zich? Dat was ook zo'n stelling, zo'n uitspraak; de waarheid hoefde niet voor de leugen opzij te gaan, wat verbeeldt men zich, en dat soort dingen. Ja , die atmosfeer heb ik gekend: het onverdraagzame. Dat begrip verbind ik ook met Rome. Wanneer je het woord Rome uitspreekt (en je vraagt je af, wanneer je rooms-katholiek wordt genoemd, wat dat dan inhoudt) dan komt er iets van verzet in mij naar boven, omdat ik het woord Rome, en rooms, automatisch met onverdraagzaamheid verbind, de onverdraagzaamheid van het zekere gelijk, van het volkomen gelijk, en het recht dat dit je geeft om het ongelijk en de ongelijkhebbers te minachten; en het recht dat dit je geeft om jezelf superieur te wanen en een triomfhouding aan te nemen.
……
P.: En er was eindelijk orde en tucht.
B.: …Wij hebben zo geleerd om ons geloof op te hangen aan een figuur, in dit geval de paus, dat, toen op dat autoriteitsgeloof een appel werd gedaan in de fascistische tijd door Hitler en Mussolini er uit de rangen van de katholieken verassend veel mesnen gerecruteerd konden worden, ook bij de zogenaamde denkers, die er in het begin wel wat in zagen. Dat is verbluffend geweest.
P.: De katholiek kon wegens zijn vertrouwdheid met een hiërarchisch kerkbeeld misschien ook gemakkelijk worden opgnomen in een beweging die even sterk op gezag en hierarchie stoelde; dat kan ook wel een element zijn geweest.
B.: ik geloof dat, waneer je van jongsaf geleerd hebt je verantwoorelijkheid te delegeren aan een ander, dit een zekere dispositie geeft. De gehoorzaamheid was in mijn jeugd de kardinale deugd, bij de leken en vooral bij de kloosters. Je hoefde het niet meer zelf uit te zoeken, iemand wist het voor je. Laat het maar gerust aan hem over. En als je dat heel jong geleerd hebt, dan blijkt het moeilijk te zijn om aan de bekoring van het fascisme weerstand te bieden, want daar heb je hetzelfde.
Het gaf ook een grote gerustheid. Heerlijk was dat, de Fuhrer wist het
…..
P.: de analogie was er: de vader wist dat de pastoor het wist, de pastoor wist dat de deken en de bisschop het wisten, en de bischop wist dat de nuntius het wist, en de nuntius, nou ja, die wist natuurlijk dat Rome het wist. En Rome wist zoveel, Rome bekrachtigde zelfs bepaalde garanties voor de Eeuwige Zaligheid. Als je een bepaalde medaille droeg en af en toe een bepaald gebed bad, kwam je zeker in de hemel. En van Rome uit kwam dat zeker weten bij je pastoor en je vader terug.

pp 222/223

....

B. : Maar er is een groot verschil tussen het gelijk van een streng calvinist rn het gelijk van een streng katholiek uit die dagen. Het verschil zit hierin, dat die man dacht: ik heb 't bij het rechte eind; terwijl de katholiek dacht: de club waartoe ik behoor heeft gelijk. Ik geloof, dat bij die anderen het persoonlijk geweten een veel grotere rol heeft gepseeld. Het gelijk werd niet gedelegeerd. Waren er meer die zo dachten, dan ontstond er wel een afscheiding, maar de gemeenschappelijke waarheid van de sekte ging nooit verder dan het geweten van de aanhangers. Ik geloof niet dat zij dat vereningingsgelijk hadden.

En daarom RKP, met een buiging, heb je groot gelijk. En is de hele draad nu op rorate over Mahony en het seksueel misbruik het dramatisch hoogtepunt van ruim 3 jaar smeerkezerij en misbruik op rorate, als demonstratie hoe kerkelijk seksueel misbruik mogelijk was, en nog steeds is!

Het goede nieuws is: dat misbruik is inderdaad Rooms Katholiek, maar wordt niet alleen mogelijk gemaakt door de kerkelijke hierarchie! En kan dus ook gestopt worden. Al zal dat nog heel lang duren en nog heel veel slachtoffers maken.

Maar ook slachtoffers kunnen hun eigen gereedschapskisten gebruiken! Zelfs wanneer getracht wordt die gereedschapskisten onmogelijk te maken. In het zoeken naar een verenigingsgelijk.

Zelfs al is nu opnieuw geprobeerd mijn gereedschapskist onmogelijk te maken, nu niet door mij en anderen uit rorates zwavelbad te verwijderen en monddood te maken, want mogelijk was bij Punt.nl, geprobeerd werd bij Blogger, maar nu zelfs geprobeerd is, voor de 2e maal via mijn internet-provider.

Met behulp van de gebruikelijke trucs: smaad en laster! En de ellende van jeugd-slachtoffers.

Omdat ook jeugd-slachtoffers daders kunnen worden!

Het goede nieuws is dat jeugdslachtoffers blijken te kunnen kiezen om volwassen te worden. Zelfs volwassen-gelovigen te worden, omdat gereedschapskisten van steeds meer, gedeeld kunnen worden! Mensen "gewoon" hun mensenrechten opeisen. Ook in een RKK. Dat is niet meer van een lokale priester, een deken, een bisschop, een nuntius, een kardinaal of zelfs een paus afhankelijk. Integendeel!

En dat is heel goed nieuws!

En jeugdslachtoffers die zich als volwassenen wensen te laten gebruiken? Dat zijn gewoon misbruikers geworden. En kiezen zo voor hun levenslange slachtofferschap!

Wauw, R. dan toch....laat ik nu toch eindelijk het antwoord hebben gevonden. KLIK Jazeker, slachtofferschap is levenslang! En daar is helemaal niks mee, 't is maar net wat je met die (ervarings) kennis doet!

Forum: Prikbord.
Geplaatst op 19/7 '07 11:09u. Onderwerp:
Afkoop
(posts: 63, views: 0)
...., ik ben het helemaal met je eens!. Alleen het feit al, dat het erkend wordt, doet al zoveel goed!!! Antwoord op ...,
ja, er zijn ook mensen die dus misbruik maken van het misbruik. Het schoot bij mij, in eerste instantie, in het verkeerde keelgat.
Ik weet dat je het niet zo bedoeld, maar in een draad als deze vind ik
persoonlijk, dat erkenning van misbruik naar buiten komt!

Fijn, dat we het alweer eens zijn.

JUST MAKE MY DAY!! !!! En indien dit gezien wordt als een zeer uitnodigende en openlijke waarschuwing? Dan is dat volkomen terecht!

Ook een misbruiker heeft er tenslotte recht op gestopt te worden en geconfronteerd worden met de grenzen. Via de rechter. Zie LA en Mahony. Soms word er een deal gesloten, om af te zien van een proces, omdat je het te druk wenst te hebben met morgen!

Het is het klimaat van vandaag

dat aan bomen van gisteren

de vruchten van morgen bepaalt.

*********************

Met een hele diepe buiging mijnerzijds naar 506 slachtoffers in LA., die een meer dan bewonderenswaardige beslissing namen. Met dank voor het gebruik van hun gereedschapskisten!

antwoord aan Lombardi: SNAP Statement

SNAP Press Statement
For immediate release:
Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell) in response to remarks by a papal spokesman in an Associated Press story

Vatican spokesman Fr. Frederico Lombardi, apparently following a well-rehearsed script used by many American Catholic bishops, insensitively tried to divert attention away from the church sex abuse and cover up scandal. In doing so, he displayed the same defensive, arrogant, and insensitive attitude which helped caused this crisis in the first place.

The papal spokesman left many US Catholics and victims shaking their heads in dismay when he claimed that nameless "other institutions" should take nameless "measures" to protect kids. The AP quoted him as stressing that pedophilia was not specific to the Catholic church.

Everyone knows that most child molesters aren't clergy, almost every organization can do more to stop abuse, and many decision-makers try to hide wrong-doing in their organizations.

But everyone also knows that

- the most long-standing, far-reaching devastating, and widely documented cover up of thousands of child sex crimes has and is taking place within Catholic circles. Instead of admitting this, Lombardi pointed fingers elsewhere and suggested other institutions also hide abuse.

- in other institutions, cover up crimes, they are usually fired or disciplined. In Catholic circles, consequences for serious wrong-doing are virtually never meted out. Instead of admitting this, Lombardi

Everyone knows that many decision-makers try to conceal crimes within their organizations. Everyone knows that almost every organization can and should do more Just yesterday, three Michigan university officials lost their jobs for deceiving the public about a murder on their campus.

But it's always disappointing and unseemly to watch a spiritual leader dodge blame and point fingers instead of taking responsibility. It's especially discouraging to see such disillusioning remarks on the very day 508 clergy sex abuse victims finally achieved a small measure of justice

When clergy sex abuse cases get resolved - either through jury verdicts or settlements - many church officials seem incapable of responding in a truly pastoral way. Instead, they often rub salt into already deep and still fresh wounds of many victims and their loved ones:

- Just yesterday, Cardinal Roger Mahony's spokesman tried to diminish the horror of clergy abuse in LA by telling a radio host "with many of these claims, we don't know whether the abuse happened or not."

- Earlier this month, when a pedophile priest in Chicago was sentenced to prison for molesting boys on an almost daily basis in 2005 and 2006, an archdiocesan spokesperson claimed his crimes "were exaggerated."

- When dozens of clergy sex cases settled in St. Louis, the archdiocesan lawyer growled to a newspaper reporter "We can beat these people in court and they know it."

- When a jury convicted a Dallas priest of molesting 17 boys, a high ranking diocesan official publicly questioned "where the boys' parents were" and suggested they had a role in the crimes.

Blame shifting and finger pointing, especially with such unspeakable crimes and cover ups, are unbecoming of any religious figure, most especially a papal spokesman.


We are also skeptical of Lombardi's claim that the church will "participate as a leader in the fight against pedophilia." We hope but doubt this promise will be kept. Nearly every day in the US, and we suspect elsewhere, cardinals and bishops are fighting to protect the accused over the accusers and to preserve secrecy instead of creating transparency. In legislatures across America, highly paid church lobbyists fight tooth and nail to derail victim-friendly laws that would help expose predators.


The same AP story implied that Pope Benedict has taken a 'harder line' against clergy sex crimes than his predecessor. We disagree. He has made strong but oblique public comment about clergy abuse (calling it 'filth'). He has issued a slight disciplining of one notorious predator (Fr. Maciel). But given the magnitude of this on-going crisis, this alone doesn't constitute a 'harder line' on abuse.


To his credit, the Pope has said "It is important to establish the truth of what has happened." But he has yet to take a single effective step to help the truth emerge. Indeed, he has remained silent in the face of backsliding by US bishops on the weak, vague reform promises they made just five years ago.


(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation's oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We've been around for 17 years and have more than 7,000 members across the country. Despite the word "priest" in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact:
David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688), Mary Grant (626-419-2930), Mark Serrano (703-727-4940)


Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org

Rome, Lombardi, over LA Mahony: een hoofdstuk sluiten

De arrogantie van die traditionele macht die er kennelijk voor zorgt dat Rome nog steeds niet doorheeft dat de wereld toch echt veranderd is!

Sexual abuse not just a Catholic problem: Vatican
Washington PostBy Philip Pullella
Reuters
Tuesday, July 17, 2007; 5:19 PM

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Sexual abuse of children is not just a Catholic Church problem and other institutions should take steps to acknowledge and deal with such "wickedness" within their own ranks, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The Vatican's chief spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, also said the record $660 million settlement between the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and victims of sexual abuse was an attempt to "close a painful chapter and look forward."

"The Church is above all clearly pained by the suffering of the victims and their families, by the deep wounds caused by the grave and inexcusable behavior of some of its members," Lombardi said.

"It has decided to commit itself in every way to avoid a repetition of such wickedness," he said, adding that the Church now had a "a policy of prevention and creation of an ever more secure atmosphere for children and young people in all aspects of (its) pastoral programs."

Lombardi reaffirmed a position taken by other Catholic Church leaders in the past -- that other organized religions and institutions should also deal with pedophilia as publicly as the Catholic Church has been forced to by various scandals.

"The problem of the abuse of childhood and its adequate protection certainly does not regard only the (Catholic) Church, but also many other institutions and it is right that these take the necessary decisions as well," he said.

Lombardi said the Church was aware of its educational responsibilities to youth and intended to be "a protagonist in the struggle against pedophilia," which he said was on the rise worldwide.

ABUSE DATING BACK TO THE 1940s

The Los Angeles decision involved 508 plaintiffs in cases dating back to the 1940s. The pre-trial settlement means Cardinal Roger Mahony will not have to testify in court.

The settlement reached on Saturday after 4 1/2 years of negotiations came before the first trial was due to begin on Monday. Victims' attorneys would have called Mahony to testify about the church hierarchy's protection of abusive priests.

The Los Angeles settlement dwarfs other landmark payouts. The Archdiocese of Boston, where the U.S. scandal erupted in 2002, reached a 2003 deal for 550 people worth $85 million.

Boston's archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Law, was forced to resign in disgrace in December 2002.

Leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church were found to have moved priests who abused minors to new parishes instead of defrocking them or reporting them to authorities.

In his interview with Vatican Radio, Lombardi spoke of the "sacrifices" the settlement would impose on the archdiocese.

The settlement funds will come from the archdiocese selling real estate assets, including the archdiocese's headquarters, insurers and various Catholic religious orders.

Before his election as pope, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger went out on a limb to decry the "filth" in the Church.

Benedict, who was elected in 2005, has taken a tougher stand on sexual abuse in the Church than his predecessor. Last year he disciplined Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the 86-year-old founder of the conservative Legionaries of Christ, who had been accused of sexually abusing boys decades ago.

Welk hoofdstuk, welke file en nog meer kardinale excuses

een paar bijlagen bij een krantenbericht over een deal en kardinale excuses, verzekerd.

Nog effe, kun je rechtszaken tegemoet zien omdat de deal niet doorging.
Na het indienen van een klacht na seksueel misbruik bleek de eerste vraag aan de ouders vanuit het aartsbisdom te zijn: heeft U uw kerk wel gecontroleerd?
Check your church


Check into The Times' exclusive interactive database containing records for 247 priests within the Los Angeles Archdiocese who have been accused of child molestation dating back decades. It contains their past assignments and the locations of the alleged abuse. It does not reflect Saturday's settlement.
Click here to access the database.


Cardinal Mahony Kept Cleric's Abuse Secret for 16 Years
Scandal: Archbishop failed to inform police and instead reassigned priest. In a letter, he admits mishandling case.
GLENN F. BUNTING, Times Staff WriterMay 16, 2002

On Tuesday, Mahony faxed a two-page letter to about 1,200 priests in the archdiocese, acknowledging that he had mishandled the case.

"As your archbishop, I assume full responsibility for allowing Baker to remain in any type of ministry during the 1990s," Mahony wrote. "I offer my sincere, personal apologies for my failure to take firm and decisive action much earlier."

The letter, addressed to "My Brother Priests," warned of an upcoming media story on Baker. The Times has been preparing an article about the priest. "You need to be aware that such a story could come anytime now, and you need to be aware of the seriousness of this case," Mahony wrote.

D.A. Demands Mahony Turn Over Documents on Abuse
Scandal: Head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese is told to comply or face grand jury action.

May 17, 2002

In a March e-mail to one of his lawyers, Mahony expressed concern about being called in front of a grand jury after a church attorney balked at turning over to police the names of three priests.

"If we don't, today, 'consult' with the [LAPD] about those 3 names, I can guarantee you that I will get hauled into a Grand Jury proceeding and I will be forced to give all the names, etc.," the cardinal wrote.
........

But some law enforcement sources say the information supplied by the archdiocese has been limited. "They make the tobacco boys look like choirboys," said one officer, who compared the archdiocese's reluctance to hand over files to that of tobacco company executives accused of covering up the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

Mahony en slachtoffers voor de rechter

Among victims, tears, relief, bitterness
Among the victims, tears, relief and, for many, lingering anger.
By Tami Abdollah, Francisco Vara-Orta and Rebecca Trounson
Times Staff Writers

Inside a tense, packed Los Angeles courtroom Monday, more than a dozen men and women rose slowly and stood, some weeping softly, as they were publicly recognized by the court and others as victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.

The moment, which came just after the Los Angeles Archdiocese and plaintiffs' attorneys reached formal agreement on a $660-million settlement in hundreds of clergy abuse cases, provided a dramatic denouement to five years of litigation — and to what many victims have described as decades of personal anguish.

When plaintiffs' lead attorney Raymond Boucher asked the victims in the downtown courtroom to rise, some did so timidly, and he had to ask again. Once all were standing, the only sound was that of crying, which seemed to become more intense as the moment went on. A few feet away at a table with church attorneys sat Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, his expression somber.

Afterward, dozens of victims, their attorneys and supporters, many still wiping away tears, congratulated and hugged one another.

Spilling outside into a plaza near the courthouse, they spoke with reporters, told their stories and celebrated what some described as a significant — and bittersweet — legal victory.

Monday had been what Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz had called "D Day" — the date set for trials of clergy abuse cases to begin. Instead, the hearing before Fromholz allowed attorneys for both sides to formally confirm that they had reached the $660-million settlement.

Steve Sanchez, who said he was molested at Holy Trinity Church for about a decade, was among those who said they felt vindicated by the settlement.

"I hope that by today's settlement, I am no longer an 'alleged' victim," said Sanchez, who said he was molested by Father Clinton Hagenbach, a parish priest, now deceased.

Sanchez's case was set for trial Monday.

Many other victims, not all of whom could squeeze into the courtroom for the hearing, said they remained bitterly angry over the abuse they suffered and the long delay in reaching a legal resolution.

Many directed their anger at Mahony, who publicly apologized Sunday to those abused. After Monday's hearing, he issued a statement reaffirming his "steadfast commitment" to fighting sexual abuse.

During the hearing, diocesan attorney J. Michael Hennigan alluded to the years it had taken to resolve the case. "First of all, to all the victims who are here, it is our deep regret this took too long," Hennigan said.

"Not accepted," one man responded, to a rumble of agreement from others in the courtroom.

"This is a hearing," the judge said in admonishment, raising his hand to keep order.

Outside the hearing, Rita Milla, who said she was sexually abused by seven Catholic priests beginning when she was 16, and impregnated by one of them, said that Mahony and other leaders of the diocese had been let off the hook.

"What Mahony did today is a lot worse than what [the abusers] did to me," said Milla, surrounded by fellow victims.

Lee Bashforth, now an Orange County financial planner who said he was molested for nearly 10 years by former priest Michael Wempe, said he would never forgive Mahony or other Catholic leaders who shielded such problematic clergy.

"They sacrificed us — and we were children — to keep themselves in good standing with the church," said Bashforth, whose eyes filled with tears as he spoke. Mahony "ceded his moral authority a long time ago," he said.

Like many of the others, Bashforth held a childhood photograph of himself taken about the time he said the molestations began. Snapped at his first Communion, the photo showed a young Bashforth in a blue suit, standing next to his abuser, Wempe.

Nearby, members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a victims' support group, displayed quilts bearing images of the youthful faces of dozens of those who had brought accusations against Catholic clergy in the abuse cases.

"The monetary thing — it's not the reason that people wanted to do this," said Lorenzo Najera, who said he was abused by Father John Santillan from the age of 12 at Santa Teresita Church in Boyle Heights. "It's more about the church accepting that there was wrong done and that there were a lot of molestations involving a lot of people. My biggest drive is to keep this from happening to others."

Not far away, Jim Baldridge, 46, who said he was molested by Hagenbach from the age of 8 through high school, was among those who found the settlement a mixed blessing. He said it would help many victims begin the process of recovering but also said he regretted that the truth about many of the cases might never be known.

Baldridge, who served as an altar boy, said the abuse — and the length of the litigation — had destroyed his faith.

"The whole time, it's been adversarial," he said. "I was everything a good Catholic boy should be, and all those things I did, as a good Catholic boy, got me hurt."

Baldridge said he had declined a chance to meet with Mahony last month. "He could have ended this a long time ago," Baldridge said.

Another of the victims, James C. Robertson, gained notoriety in 2005 when to protest the archdiocese's handling of the scandal, he handcuffed himself to the cathedra — the chair that symbolizes Mahony's authority as cardinal — during a Sunday Mass at the downtown cathedral.

On Monday, Robertson, who said he was molested by two Catholic brothers at a Gardena high school in the 1960s, also criticized the settlement. "The church is getting off cheap," he said, speaking outside the courthouse. "If church leaders actually cared about healing, they'd ask the victims to speak to groups — parents, children and students — about our stories and let them know this was wrong."

Robertson said he feared that once the media attention over the settlement and its details dies away, such problems could continue. He said he would try to keep clergy abuse in the spotlight.

"Today is the last day of our 15 minutes of fame," he said. "For the church, it's just another bill, and their power and authority still remain."

As for Mahony, he did not speak during the 45-minute hearing. After it ended and the victims surged into the hall, one man in the back of the crowd was heard asking, "Is the cardinal going to come out?"

He did not. The cardinal, who had entered the courtroom through a side door, left the same way. In his statement, Mahony said he would spend the afternoon praying for the victims.